What is the most dangerous radioactive isotope?
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What is the most dangerous radioactive isotope?
Because it emits alpha particles, plutonium is most dangerous when inhaled. When plutonium particles are inhaled, they lodge in the lung tissue. The alpha particles can kill lung cells, which causes scarring of the lungs, leading to further lung disease and cancer.
What is the half-life of uranium 234?
about 25 thousand years
The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.5 billion years, uranium-235 about 700 million years, and uranium-234 about 25 thousand years.
Is it better for the nuclear isotope to have a very long or a short half-life time?
Some radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine have short half-lives, which means they decay quickly and are suitable for diagnostic purposes; others with longer half-lives take more time to decay, which makes them suitable for therapeutic purposes.
What is the half-life of thorium?
about 14 billion years
The time required for a radioactive substance to lose 50 percent of its radioactivity by decay is known as the half-life. The half-life of thorium- 232 is very long at about 14 billion years.
What are some harmful isotopes?
Our focus here is on the isotopes cesium-137, strontium-90 and iodine-131, since they are relatively volatile and thus can contaminate large areas. In addition, it is these isotopes that accounted for most of the harmful effects following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
What is the deadliest element?
Polonium is a highly radioactive heavy metal. It is arguably the most lethal known material. Although it has some minor industrial uses it is best known for links with possible assassinations. It is also used to produce neutrons in the core of nuclear weapons.
What is the half-life of radon 222?
3.8 days
Rn-222 has a short half-life (3.8 days) and decays into a series of solid particulate products, known as radon progeny or radon daughters, all of which have even shorter half-lives (∼30 min or less).
Is uranium 238 unstable?
All isotopes of uranium are unstable and radioactive, but uranium 238 and uranium 235 have half-lives which are sufficiently long to have allowed them to still be present in the Solar System and indeed on Earth.
Which isotope is almost extinct on Earth?
List of extinct radionuclides
| Isotope | Halflife (Myr) | Daughter |
|---|---|---|
| Iron-60 | 2.62 | Nickel-60 (stable) |
| Caesium-135 | 2.33 | Barium-135 (stable) |
| Gadolinium-150 | 1.798 | Neodymium-142 (stable) |
| Zirconium-93 | 1.53 | Niobium-93 (stable) |
How are radioactive isotopes harmful?
Radioactive isotopes can sit in the stomach and irradiate for a long time. High doses can cause sterility or mutations. Radiation can burn skin or cause cancer. Radiation can cause leukaemia and other diseases of the blood.
Is radon 222 radioactive?
Radon (Rn-222) is an odorless and colorless natural radioactive gas. It is produced during the radioactive decay of radium-226, itself a decay product of uranium-238 found in many types of crustal materials, that is, rocks and soils.
What is the most stable isotope of thorium?
thorium-232
Thorium’s most stable isotope, thorium-232, has a half-life of about 14,050,000,000 years. It decays into radium-228 through alpha decay or decays through spontaneous fission.